Watch our Mortgage Tech Trends Webinar On Demand
Financial institutions and mortgage bankers increasingly recognize the limitations of traditional mortgage origination processes when it comes to meeting consumer online expectations, and turn to digital lending and automation.
Although digital mortgage technology is transforming the industry, loan officers and loan processors are still vital to the mortgage loan process, especially when it comes to adhering to compliance and regulatory requirements.
Automation, such as allowing consumers to scan their IDs to prefill information and automatically creating records on core systems, can mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful loan application process. This is particularly true for existing customers whose data you can leverage to streamline their experiences.
But as a mortgage lender, you may wonder what technology can do for your operations and your staff.
Automation Helps Loan Officers & Processors Be More Effective
While their job may look a little different after digital transformation, loan officers are still an essential part of the mortgage loan origination process, especially when it comes to adhering to compliance and regulatory requirements – and providing customers with a human point of connection.
Some borrowers may prefer a hybrid approach with human touchpoints throughout the application process. Lenders who can connect to borrowers with a genuine understanding of the emotional aspects of home buying can establish trusted, long-lasting relationships.
Throughout the mortgage loan process, loan officers are the primary points of contact. They help customers find financing options, review borrowers’ information to verify eligibility, and solve issues that come up throughout the application process.
A loan officer may need to ask for help from other departments or call an unresponsive employer to verify a client’s employment. After a loan is approved, a loan officer may have to manage unforeseen circumstances, such as the death of a wage earner or other family emergency. No algorithm, no matter how good, can deal with these situations. It takes critical thinking and decision-making skills.
But automation can help loan processors do their jobs more efficiently.
Mortgage origination requires strict adherence to industry regulations. Automating and digitizing loan processes can help banks and credit unions as well as mortgage brokers comply with these rules and operate more efficiently.
Paper documents increase the time it takes for a loan to close. If documents are submitted digitally, a loan processor can more quickly access and review mortgage documents from anywhere.
This allows the loan processor to spend more time addressing customer questions and concerns and holding the process together. Additionally, the loan processor can contact the underwriter and the loan officer within seconds to address those questions and concerns.
The bottom line is that financial institutions and mortgage bankers can thrive by embracing technology to augment the work of their loan officers and loan processors.
POS + LOS = Better Borrower Experience
A mortgage point-of-sale (POS) platform is the borrower’s interface for the origination process. Although they deal with different parts of the process, integrating your POS system with your loan origination system (LOS) is key for streamlining and automating mortgage origination. One way to do this is to ask your LOS provider for the names of their integrated partner POS vendors.
For example, with MeridianLink Mortgage LOS and one of its integrated POS providers, you could speed up the mortgage origination process for your borrowers and provide a better customer experience. Such a partnership can help you increase speed to close, reduce operating costs, and enable you to focus more energy on building relationships with your customers.
Mortgage Tech Trends Webinar
To learn more about the evolving role of loan officers and loan processors in an automated world, watch our on-demand webinar.
During this webinar, we addressed:
- Operating efficiently in today’s current market
- The true value of Point of Sale (POS)
- Improving lender and customer relationships
